LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 13 August 1946, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Infectious Diseases Twenty-two cases of notifiable I diseases were registered by tne ! j Wellington-Hawke's Bay Health I I District in the past week. There [ t were five cases of scarlet f ever, 10 } of diptheria, five of tuberculosis 1 and two of food poisoning. There was one death, from diprheria. Strange Accident A sawmill worker, Mr. D. Skel-' ton, was injured in a strange way when working at Gladstone Siding, near Greymouth. He was struck by a piece of wire which broke from a wire rope and flew about three chains. The wire, about the size of a darning needle, struck Mr. Skelton with considerable force, inflicting abdominal injuries. He is now a patient in the Grey Hospital in a serious condition. Fire in Hospital Store An outbreak of fire in the -offices I and storeroom in a detached buildj ing at the Waimate Public Hospital ; caused the loss of medical and J other stores estimated at £700. The stewards' office was gutted, destroying the records, while supplies in the storeroom, to which the flames penetrated through the : ceiling, suffered from heat. The fire was quickly controlled by the | brigade. The cause is not known. Unusual Circumstances I Mrs. Agnes McAlisLer, aged 84, an invalid, received fatal injuries when she fell to the floor as the result of a slihg breaking at her home at Napier. Mrs. McAlister, who was a widow, was bed-ridden, and the sling had been erected over her bed to facilitate her being lifted. The district Coroner, Mr. Miller, S.M., returned a verdict at the inquest that death Was due to injuries accidentally received with no blame being attachable to anyon e. Profound Synipathy The New Zeaiand Red Cross Society has received a cable from the Red Cross of the Dominican Republic, South America, advising it of the catastrophe by earthquake and tidal wave which visited the north-east part of that Republic. Apart from the devastation caused by the earthquake, the countryside is flooded followihg a tidal wave, involving the loss of lives and extensive damage. In reply the New Zeaiand Red Cross has cabled its profound sympathy with the sufferers. Music in Schoolb "I do wish New Zeaiand schools would contemplate a similar move," said Mr. Murray Fastier, a wellknown organist, in an address to the . Auckland.. Travel . Club on liis experiences in."i Erigland. He was referring to a scheme in operatior at the famous public school, Blundell's, in Devon, where each boy pays a guinea a year for entertainment. These payments, said Mr. Fastier, meant the school had 400 guineas a year with which it could afford to engage the best musicians in London to give performances at the school. Radar "Bird-Spotting" Considerable success in identifying birds by means of radar was achieved in experiments over Cook Strait during the war, according to Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, who was formerly 011 the staff. of the radio physical laboratory, Wellington. With the assistance of an ornitholologist, Dr. Alexander made a number of experiments and it was possible over distances up to seven miles to identify types of birds by recordings on the radar set indicating the size of the birds and flocks and the manner of flight. It was, she said, almost impossible to observe birds at sea without radar. Income Tax An oificial publication, the Abstract of Statistics, states that the receipts from all sources of taxation in New Zeaiand during the year 1945 — 46 amounted to £114,954,873, or £6,273,059 in excess of last year's total. Taxes directly imposed on incomes rose from £8 17s 5d per head in 1938-39 to £41 17s 8d per head for the last financial year, the latter figure representing 62.3 per cent. of taxation from all sources. Over the years covering the period of the war (1939-40 to 1945-46) total taxation amounted to £586,463,139, of which the amount received under war taxation imposts (including transfers from the Consolidated Fund) was £251>599,990, or 42.9 per cent. of the total. For the year 1945-46 war taxation amounted to £51,416,847, or 44.7 per cent. of total f taxation.